Leo Ackerman was used to losing people.

It wasn't something new for him to see death haunt every street, to hear the widow's cry, to see orphaned children rummaging through bins and look into peoples eyes and see nothing but emptiness. His aim was always to try and heal, to give the little reassurance the world had to offer. Over the years he had become somewhat of a beacon of hope to his small community, they had all seen the young boy who's parents had died one after the other from their work in the mines walk to school every single day with a battered plastic bag in his hand. They had wondered why someone who had lost so much so young chose to attend the poorly managed school day after day, working late into the night mending shoes to keep a roof over his head. It was only when this remarkable boy constructed a plan to create underground water pipes to give the village a fresh supply of water from a well eight kilometres away that his neighbours had began to sit up and take notice.

At the age of nineteen, Leo was widely acknowledged as being the problem-solver, people would come to him with something that seemed impossible to resolve and return with a satisfied smile on their faces. The government certainly wasn't going to provide for them, nobody suggested turning to the authorities anymore, no one had done that since the Washington DC had been flooded. You were added to a never ending waiting list and it was rumoured that the government didn't really operate anymore in an official capacity, they merely took a back seat sometimes releasing news reports every so often when the television sets would blink into existence and then blink right out again. Even the talks that Japan would be the saviour, that they were working on a financial plan that would save the dying world had died down. 

As Leo walked out of the rudimentary shelter which he had called his home since the day he was born he looked up to the sky out a reflex more than out of expecting to actually see something there. A thick layer of smog hung over the village, before all the factories had been abandoned it was said that they would emit large amounts of emissions which caused peoples lungs to blacken and had led to the distinct lack of an elderly population in sector seven, seeing a wrinkled face made every young person straighten their back and smile, those who had survived deserved that respect. The brown fields that surrounded his home weren't good for much, but Leo was the proud owner of the only patch of green grass for miles, he was hoping that one day he might be able to extract a seed and plant something, he could only wish for such luxuries. He knew that if he ever did grow something the first person who would lay eyes upon it other than him would be Rosaline, that was one thing he could be selfish about. There was such little beauty in her life and she deserved so much more.

His spirit lifted as he thought of her, like it always did. Rosaline Hope, the only person who had ever seen behind the composed genius who others admired. There was nothing about this world which he treasured more, his small collection of books that had painted images in them showed him a world they had never seen, where the sky was a faint blue that looked like it should be admired for hours, he wished that he could take the world out of those books and bring it to life for her. 

Even though it was pointless, he picked up the brush his Father had fashioned from splinters of wood and straw, the dust which had collected in front of their home could be cleaned, although not much else could. 

He heard her before he saw her, nobody bothered to sing anymore, it didn't have any value. No one aside from Rosaline. She hummed as she walked towards him, smiling. If anything in the world was perfect, if there was any kind of solace in their grim existence it was the fact that everyday without fail after sunrise Rosaline would come across that field.

The first thing she said was what she said everyday.

"See any stars up there in the sky last night Ackerman?"

It had been their tradition for years, a nine-year old Rosaline had made him solemnly swear with their pinky fingers intertwined that if he ever saw a star in the sky that he would shout loud enough that she would be able to hear him from the other side of the village, so far he had dissappointed her each and every day she had asked.

One thing most people could agree on was that Rosaline was the prettiest gift the world had to offer, it was the very essence of her that people couldn't help falling in love with. Leo was a necessity in their neighbours lives but he could never have lit up a space in the way she did. Her eyes were filled with dreams that other people would never fathom trying only to live their daily lives and make it to another morning without ending up dead from radiation poisoning or starvation. Her hair caught a gust of wind as she leant over his shoulder to see what he was drawing and the auburn strands tickled his cheek. Rosaline still had somewhat of a family, her older sister, Esmie and Father, Nicholas so she didn't just have him to rely on like he did with her.

Sometimes it scared him how much he relied on knowing that despite all the hardships he had to face, Rosaline would always be waiting for him, a hand out stretched for him to cling onto as he had done as a little boy when their teacher had announced that a lack of funding had meant the school would shut down. Before that day he had never really noticed Rosaline, she was just another too skinny child, but the day where the other pupils had rejoiced and she had been the only one who had looked as sad as he had felt he had instinctively grabbed her hand and hadn't really let go ever since. Later, she had confined to him that she had been more upset that their school had closed down because every time he had announced an idea to the enthralled class she had seen some colour return to their dreary world.

"Leo, you realise you can only do so much. I know that you think everything has a solution but we don't have the kind of tools you would need to do this" 

Rosaline was observing his drawing of an elaborate air- replenishing system with an anxious look on her face, he eyebrows knotted together. 

He closed the book to spare her anxiety and immediately regretted doing so when she faced him with that serious look in her eyes he knew all too well. It had been Rosaline's persistent new topic and she was unlikely to ever give it up, it had also been one of the only areas of contention between them.

"I don't need you to build me a new world Leo, we make a good team, we do what we can to fix the world we live in but you cannot take the suffering of everyone onto your own shoulders, we do what we can with what we have." 

Her slender fingers intertwined with his and he felt a tug at his heart wondering why he was being so stubborn on this particular topic, why he didn't just give in to something he wanted himself. He just couldn't accept that this was it for them, that they had to survive this existence, always struggling, always scared that today would be their last, Rosaline didn't deserve to live like that, not when he had a mind bursting with ideas and abilities that no one really ever doubted. Not when he could and would make the world a better place for her.

She rested her head on her shoulder and he breathed in the familiar scent which had comforted him so many times.

"I love you"

She sighed.

"Then why can't you just let us be together properly, stop putting up all these barriers, I love you and you love me there isn't really anything to argue about Leo. You don't have to make any promises or prove anything to me, we know better than anyone how fleeting life is. We've seen  healthy people die before our very eyes, we might not live in one of those picture perfect lives that all your books show, but we could be happy."

He knew they could be happy, they would be happy, Leo could close his eyes and imagine it. But he could also imagine losing Rosaline to a new disease, losing her to childbirth, the possibilities for all the situations that he could lose her in were endless and he couldn't risk it happening. Instead, he had to carry on making his plans, carry on dreaming for a future where such a loss could never occur because he knew it would destroy him.

"I'm sorry" he said, moving slightly from his position leaning on the wood behind them.

"I know" she replied.